Hearing Fang Xuanling's words, Fang Er chuckled and pulled out a notebook and a pencil from his pocket.
"Come, Duke Fang, since you wish to know, I shall calculate the cost of this great ship for you."
"The timber for the hull alone cost over three thousand guan for one ship.
This fifty-meter long full steel keel weighs over three hundred thousand jin. According to the old rule, a jin of hundred-refined steel costs one jin of copper coins.
One guan weighs seven jin and six liang. Two hundred thousand jin of copper coins amounts to thirty-nine thousand four hundred and seventy-three guan.
To make calculations easier, let's round it up to forty thousand guan."
Fang Xuanling's mouth twitched madly.
"You scoundrel, rounding up adds over five hundred guan to the cost of one keel!"
Fang Er ignored his expression and continued to list the items on paper.
"Then there are the steam engine and propeller. I'm too lazy to calculate; just give me five thousand guan as a token for the set.
The cannons are cheap; consider them a gift from me. But the cannonballs are not free. Three guan per shot. I've prepared five thousand rounds, which is fifteen thousand.
The rest of the items are all gifts, how about that? Am I generous enough?"
*Bang!*
Fang Xuanling slammed his hand on the table, his palm turning red from the impact.
He sucked in a cold breath and stood up.
"You scoundrel, are you robbing the national treasury?"
Good heavens, while Fang Er was calculating, he himself had been estimating the total cost of one ship.
It was over sixty-three thousand guan, and that was just for one ship.
Fang Er looked innocent, spreading his hands: "Duke Fang, if you say that, it's no fun!"
"Perhaps I should keep these ships for fishing?"
Li Shimin took Fang Er's notebook and looked at it.
The handwriting was no different from a dog's crawl, and it was all written in new numerical symbols. Fortunately, Li Tai often returned to show him the new knowledge he had learned, which allowed him to vaguely understand the contents.
After reading it, he patted Fang Xuanling on the shoulder.
"Alright, Duke Fang, let's go with what this scoundrel says."
Since Li Shimin was willing to pay the money, Old Fang couldn't say anything more and sat back down in his chair with a displeased expression.
"Scoundrel, give me an estimate, how much silver can that silver mountain yield annually?"
This was fear of a losing business!
Fang Er thought for a moment and held up a finger: "With sufficient manpower and full extraction, it will not be less than three million liang of silver per year."
This was the first time this number was spoken.
Li Shimin's eyes widened, his expression filled with disbelief.
"Three million liang! That's actual silver!
The Great Tang's national treasury's annual income is only thirty million liang, and even then, it's mostly in the form of cloth and grain.
Actual currency accounts for less than a tenth!
Fang Xuanling was also stunned. There was so much? Li Shimin stared with eyes wide in disbelief.
Three million liang! That's actual silver!
The Great Tang's treasury's annual income was only thirty million liang, and even then, most of it was counted in cloth and grain.
The actual currency was less than one-tenth!
Fang Xuanling was also stunned. So much? So the ships were built very worthily!
Not only he and Li Shimin, but even Wei Zheng was shocked, as were the other dukes, their expressions all the same.
Hou Junji's eyes turned green: "Your Majesty! I request to accompany the Marquis of Liaodong to guard the silver mine with my subordinates!"
Fang Er...
Li Shimin glanced at him.
"No need. The Heavenly Fire Army and the Extermination Army are sufficient."
"You scoundrel, do you really think I don't know anything about your embezzlement of spoils when leading troops on campaigns?"
If I let you go, this silver mine would likely be renamed Hou!"
Hou Junji sat back down, slightly displeased.
The atmosphere became somewhat awkward.
At this moment, the Zhenyuan had unknowingly returned to the dock.
Li Shun came forward and said, "Your Majesty, the ship has docked."
Li Shimin nodded and walked onto the deck.
Everyone followed behind and disembarked from the Zhenyuan's deck.
Fang Er grabbed Fang Xuanling.
"Duke Fang, don't leave in a hurry. This amount is quite large this time, perhaps you could leave me a written IOU first?"
Fang Xuanling's forehead was covered in black lines.
"As the Minister of Revenue, would I default on your debt?"
But seeing the paper and pen Fang Er had already handed over, he had no choice but to take them and look at the content Fang Er had already written, which only lacked his signature.
IOU
Hereby owes Marquis of Liaodong Fang Anzhi shipbuilding fees of two hundred thousand guan, artillery and ammunition fees for nineteen prefectures and sixty-three cities of forty thousand guan, estimated military expenses for the Heavenly Fire Army's expedition to Wa of one hundred thousand guan, totaling three hundred and forty thousand guan.
Below this was the space left for his signature.
Old Fang was so angry that his beard trembled, and he pointed at the two hundred thousand guan and asked.
"The three great ships totaled less than one hundred and ninety thousand liang, how did you get two hundred thousand guan?"
Fang Er pointed to the landing craft hanging on the sides of the ship: "Those are small boats powered by diesel engines. This is my good-hearted price, less than a thousand guan per boat!"
Old Fang was speechless, so he picked up the pencil, quickly wrote his name on it, and threw it to Fang Er.
"Scram! Hurry up and go to Wa!"
"Hehehehehe, no need to bother, Duke Fang. I'll be rolling in three days!"
Fang Er was overjoyed in his heart. This money could earn at least sixty percent profit!
No wonder the US suppressed and delayed their entry into World War II, only hiding behind to sell arms. This business is too damn cool!
This is the dividend brought by technology!
He carefully tucked the notebook into his chest, put his hands behind his back, and with a swagger, followed Fang Xuanling down the gangway.
Li Shimin and the dukes had already mounted their horses and looked at Fang Er as he approached and said.
"Scoundrel, you must set off in three days. I await your triumphant return!"
After speaking, he pulled his horse's head and galloped towards Chang'an.
The others also followed.
After they had all left, Fang Er instructed Li Shun to begin loading supplies onto the ship.